Dizzy Witchy
by FreakOTU
Summary: I-No and Dizzy are stranded in the wilderness. Will they be rescued before they get eaten by the wildlife?
1. Crash Landing

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Guilty Gear. If I did, I'd be a lot richer.

Authour's Comment:This is what happens when I figure that every character, no matter how wicked, evil or twisted on the outside, has something known as 'good' in them. So, onwards to the fun!

"Shhh... It's over now. Rest. Sleep. You'll need it." The person who spoke slumped against a tree, looking up through the branches at the dark blot in the skies far above. Sitting down, she placed her weapon on the ground beside her, then placed her hat on top of the guitar's body. She closed her eyes, waiting as she heard her companion's sobs trail off to wet sniffles.

Far above the two, a massive fireball slowly dissipated.

––––––––––––––––––––––––

She woke up a few hours later, a vague feeling of discomfort fading quickly. Looking down at her companion, she was surprised to see that the winged girl was sleeping peacefully, even though tears still carved glittering tracks into the dust caking her face. The girl woke up quickly, standing up a few seconds after the older woman did.

"So, Dizzy, is it? What're you going to do now?"

Dizzy glared at the woman, who retuned her guitar by twisting two of the pegs. Almost as if on cue, two ghostly faces manifested in the girl's wings, both looking rather angry. The female face, shooting an icy glare at the woman didn't say a thing, but the hooded skull on the opposite side of the girl made its intentions known by producing a rather wicked-looking axe and running the edge along the ground, splitting open the earth like it was cheap tissue paper. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because, if you didn't notice, I knocked down more missiles than you did. Also, I think I like hanging around a place where people don't try to kill you just because of differences."

Dizzy nodded, slightly bewildered. Looking up through the broken branches that had broken their fall, she noticed that the smoke from the missiles still lingered in the sky. "How long were we asleep?"

"Couple hours. Why?"

"The smoke. It's still there. I can see ten- no, thirteen trails. I think I'll be going after the largest one."

"Why?"

"Because there's a good chance that wherever that trail comes down, the Mayship will be at the end of it."

"Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, neh? Well, let's get going." She grabbed her hat, placing it on the neck of her guitar as she looked at Dizzy.

"Wait. You want to go with me?"

"Sure. Better than striking off into the unknown with no food, no shelter, and no way to know if I'm walking off a cliff the next time I go through some bushes. At least you have wings to keep you from falling."

Almost instantly, both faces produced several silent but rude expressions. Dizzy, however, blushed deeply and glared at her black wing. "No, I will not repeat that. That's just mean, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that."

"So, what'd he-it-whatever say?"

"Something rude. By the way, what's your name? I can't just go around saying 'hey you' every time I need your attention."

"Lotta people know me as I-No. Good enough, far as I'm concerned."

"Okay. So, I guess we should be going, unless you forgot something."

"Not to my knowledge."


	2. Deadlands

The forest remained sparse enough to see a fair distance, but it was deserted. No wildlife of any sort. No birds singing in the branches above, no insects flitting by on their way to be lunched by something bigger, and most definitely no animals. Dizzy, who was about six feet away from the red-clad guitarist, had never felt so uneasy in her not-so long life, and it was showing.

Her face had paled slightly, giving her a rather unhealthy pallor. Also, her wings were fully manifested, as well as her tail, which was idly lashing the ground behind her feet as she walked. I-No, on the other hand, looked to be almost sleepwalking. Her head was bent downwards, and her fingers slowly twitched along the guitar's frets, almost as if she were playing a tune only she could hear. Even then, she still uncannily dodged obstacles as she came to them, deftly ducking under branches, dodging around tree trunks, and stepping around boulders.

Dizzy, pausing to look at the still pyre of smoke through the sparse branches of a dead pine tree, heard something behind her. Almost instantly she spun around, prepared for anything, except... nothing. There was no evidence that anything had even passed through the forest, except for the snake-like trail left in the dead leaves and needles caused by her tail.

"Something bothering you?" Dizzy damn near jumped out of her skin at the quiet voice, then looked at I-No.

"Yeah. This place is, well... dead." Dizzy absently chewed on a fingernail, which she only did when worried. When she was really worried, she used to gnaw on the end of her tail.

I-No nodded. "I know. Passed through here some time ago. About fifty kliks thataway," She waved in the general direction of West, then grinned and brought a finger up to adjust her hat. "There's an ancient reactor. Called something like Chernobyl. From what I was told, the place went up about three hundred years ago in something called a meltdown. We are walking through what is literally a dead zone. The only thing that can survive in here are these trees, and maybe bacteria."

Dizzy shuddered, then looked at the smoke trail above her. "I think we should get going. I... really don't feel safe here."

"Hnn." I-No nodded, heading slightly to the right of the direction the smoke trail was pointing the two towards. Dizzy followed, having to jog for a few moments to catch up to the taller woman. No conversation passed between the two as they continued to walk, though the faces in Dizzy's wings had manifested themselves again.

I cannot believe that this witch would have anything to do with us unless she was planning to kill us. Remember our first meeting? Necros' voice echoed inside Dizzy's head, though she chose to ignore the guardian as he vented his current frustrations.

#All too well. Now, are you going to continue to be paranoid, or will you accept the fact that we've been heading roughly in the same direction without conflict for the last five hours?# Undine was, typically, much calmer, and asked the most relevant questions between the two beings.

No. She's waiting for something. I can feel it. The reply was solid with conviction, though Undine's watery chuckle burbled through a few seconds later.

#I agree with you there, but something else is in this forest. She might be waiting for whatever it is to flush it out.# The two guardians seemed to agree, then Necros seemed to grin, his voice tinged with amusement.

Yeah. I'll believe that when Testament turns into a girl. Almost instantly, he was mentally berated by Dizzy, who, in no uncertain terms, told him to either retract that statement or lose visitation privileges to Testament's familiar, which the male spirit had acquired a liking towards.

Necros sulkily recanted the comment, satisfying Dizzy, while Undine just laughed.

Meanwhile, the two guardians had been keeping their senses tuned to anything unusual, barring the fact that the only things alive in the entire forest were Dizzy and I-No. The witch had paused for a few moments, crouching as she looked at something. She actually stretched her hand wide, placing it in a depression in the ground, then shuddered.

Standing I-No looked at Dizzy, who had stopped and was looking at the depression in the forest floor. "We need to get out of here fast. Whatever left this here is likely to be coming back soon, and I don't want to be here when it does."

Dizzy took a closer look at the depression for all of two seconds, seeing that it was a print. A jagged, clawed print seven times the size of her hand. "I agree."

The two then took off running. I-No, due to her greater stride, even in her impossible-to-run platform shoes, easily distanced herself from Dizzy, who occasionally caught up with a self-propelled gust from her wings.

The two stopped as they crested a small hill, and looked down into a tree-filled valley below. Between the trees, the rusted, decaying hulks of blacktech vehicles, each with a still-visible red star on their sides leered at the two. "Wow. I've never seen so much old technology before. You think Zepp would pay for the location?"

"Zepp already knows about this heap. They've also avoided it for one reason."

"What's that?"

"Radiation."

"Huh?"

"Old weapon. Basically, it's an invisible killer, and does a pretty nasty job of it too. I've seen old pictures. People tend to have their skin melt when exposed to too much radiation, followed by everything else that's not bone."

"Guh-ross. Do we have to go through this valley?"

"No. You have wings, don't you? I can 'blink' over to the other side as well. I'll see you there." Dizzy wanted to ask what I-No meant by 'blinking' but quickly learned as the witch literally faded fro sight in the time it took for the young hybrid to blink. Taking to the air quickly, Dizzy caught sight of the now familiar pointed red hat, and flew over the irradiated blacktech as fast as she could, landing beside I-No in a small cloud of dust.

"Wow. Can you teach me how to do that?" Dizzy virtually hopped up and down, excited and oddly happy.

"No. I don't even know how I do it myself." I-No shot down Dizzy's idea, then pointed at the trail. "We're getting closer. Maybe another eight to ten hours of walking will get us there."

"We only have another three hours of sunlight though." Dizzy shaded her eyes to look at the sun, frowning as she did so.

"Well, looks like we'll have to make camp somewhere along the way. You know something about outdoors survival?" I-No started walking towards the still-visible smoke trail, following the edge of the valley so she didn't have to dodge so many trees.

"Some. Testament and Johnny taught me a lot of things." I-No raised an eyebrow for a second as Dizzy's voice seemed to choke up for a second, then nodded in understanding. She then grinned.

"The least of which was to be an effective pilferer. Now, tell your tail to cough up the pretty bauble it just snarfed down." Dizzy blushed a bright shade of red, then mentally forced her tail to disgorge whatever it had eaten. Ten seconds later, a small pile of gold coins, a half-pound of dead pine needles, a rhinestone amulet, a small pouch half-full of raisins, and a rather large chunk of an oak tree were lying on the ground, and Dizzy felt like her tail would be stretched and sore forever.

"Owww... That hurt."

"Not nearly as much as it could've." I-No scooped up the amulet, which was bone dry for some reason, then motioned at the coins. "We might need 'em. If you have pockets, that might be a better place for them."

Dizzy looked at the coins, glistening with whatever her tail had used to lubricate their eviction, and shuddered for a few seconds. Finally, seeing no better recourse, she reached out with her tail and gently picked up each coin, stacking them in her free hand. It turned out that there were just under fifty coins, and Dizzy used the pouch of raisins to store as many coins as possible, leaving perhaps ten behind as I-No waited. "There. We now have money, and some food."

I-No nodded, then turned and continued walking, Dizzy falling into step beside her almost instantly. They walked quietly for nearly twenty minutes, then heard something thrashing through the bush behind and to their right. "Not good. When I say so, fly towards where you want to go."

Dizzy shook her head, turning and watching the direction the noise was coming from. "No. I can fight too."

I-No shook her head. "You don't know what it's capable of." The witch looked in the direction of the slowly increasing noise, frowned, and stepped between Dizzy and whatever the source was. "I do. As I said: Run."

Dizzy didn't have time to respond, as the being that was making the noise slowly thrashed out of the brush. Standing at least twelve feet tall, the hulking form had long, clawed arms that dragged along the ground, carving divots in the hard earth every time it took a step. Thick, leathery skin, tinged a deathly grey pallor, and tiny, beady eyes perched just above a hook-like nose. The creature's red eyes focussed easily on the two females in front of it, and it seemed to smile, unfurling a two foot long tongue to slaver over its needle-like teeth.

The abomination paused for a few seconds, which was enough time for I-No to get to work; before the creature could take three steps towards the two, the witch had summoned her considerable powers and knocked the creature into the air with a powerful spike of energy that blasted through the ground until it erupted right below the creature's feet. The creature didn't fly far; it skidded to a stop three feet away from its launching point, just in time to get a solid kick in the face followed by the body of I-No's guitar slamming hard into the creature's chin, snapping off several teeth.

The witch didn't let up, pounding the monster repeatedly with a series of blows that would have left most humans near death. However, the creature just climbed back to its full height, shrugging off the solid series of blows. Smiling again, the creature flexed its claws, then brought its left hand down, trying to squash I-No. It missed, and, in response, received a solid boot to the chin that sent its head snapping backwards, a spray of blood and teeth gushing from its mouth.

I-No had used the momentum of the vertical kick to backflip twice, stopping safely out of the creature's reach even as the thing slowly stood back up. "I told you to go! Now!"

Dizzy was torn. She didn't want to leave her only companion alone, even though it was apparent that the witch was easily taking care of herself. However, she could see that the creature, whatever it was, could take a lot more punishment than either of the two women could. Dizzy tried using her more gear-like senses to examine the creature, but all she got in return was the creature's attention. Somehow, the hideous being had picked up on the magical energies pouring like waves off of Dizzy's body, and it decided to try to take a chunk out of what seemed to be more helpless prey. Almost before Dizzy could react to being turned into the new target, I-No bashed her guitar into the back of the creature's left knee, dropping the monster for a few seconds.

Dizzy's tail took the subconscious opportunity offered, and darted out, toothy maw gaping. When her tail retracted, the creature lay on the ground, howling in agony. Dizzy's tail had torn off two fingers on the thing's right hand, taken a chunk out of the creature's torso as big as I-No's guitar, and messily amputated half of the being's face. I-No, not feeling much pity for the thing, smashed her guitar into the gaping wound in the creature's side, rebounding the heavy instrument off of its liver, and provoking another howl of pain as she ducked back in and poked the thing's good eye with the toe of her boot.

Dizzy, sickened by what she had done to the monstrous being, reached out and grabbed I-No by the arm, pulling the witch away from the now-helpless creature. "The hell? Let go of me, kid! You don't know what you're doing!"

"I know exactly what we're doing. We are leaving before that thing decides to turn us into snackcakes. Maybe you didn't notice because you were busy trying to pop the thing's liver, but it had regrown both fingers that I had taken off in just under five seconds." I-No stopped resisting Dizzy's insistent pulling, and began to run alongside the shorter hybrid.

"Damn. I think there's only the one in this area, but we should be careful. Besides, I don't want to be eaten."

Dizzy glanced back at the now-invisible clearing where she and I-No had thrashed the creature, then looked ahead just in time to duck a low-hanging branch. "What... was that... thing... anyhow?"

I-No's breath came in short gasps, so she slowed to a jog to get some air into her lungs, Dizzy doing the same, for the same reason. "Don't really know. Someone called it a troll once. Name fits; thing's nearly unstoppable and it's ugly as hell."

Dizzy nodded. "I'll say. It took everything we threw at it and laughed at us. I guess we won't be sleeping much tonight."

I-No paused, looking at Dizzy for a few seconds. Dizzy, uncomfortable with the scrutiny, bushed and turned away. I-No stopped looking, and smiled gently, totally at odds with her bloodthirsty actions during the fight. "I didn't know you had a sense of humour under that shy shell you're in. Kinda nice to hear someone crack a joke about our present predicament."

Dizzy smiled as well, pausing for a few moments before she settled into her own distinctive jogging style, which allowed her to use her wings to assist in her forward momentum. I-No simply jogged alongside, ignoring the blood dripping down her back.

Far behind them, the creature finished healing enough to rage mindlessly at anything in its immediate reach.


	3. Midnight Conversation

"Okay, now that's not funny." I-No had just walked into a highly radioactive part of the forest, done a complete about-face, walked out, and now itched horribly all over as a side effect of her standard protective spell. Dizzy, on the other hand, and much to the witch's chagrin, had damn near fallen over laughing, though she had recovered rather quickly when reminded that there was a rather large, angry being somewhere out there, and they didn't know how keen its hearing was.

The two had walked around the dangerous spot, I-No using her now limited supply of magical abilities to detect safe passage through the area. Finally, the two exhausted women found a 'safe' area. Well, safe as in surrounded by deadly radiation except for two small pathways that they virtually had to squeeze through sideways without being burned.

Dizzy sat with her knees against her chest, her tail curled around her for added warmth. I-No simply lounged on her side, ignoring the dead pine needles jabbing her bare shoulders. Between the two, I-No had started a small fire using some kindling and some dead wood that had been easily broken off of the nearby trees. Magic supplied the required incendiary action, and the merry little blaze was soon warming both up.

Dizzy perked up slightly as she warmed up, her tail twitching much like a happy cat's would. I-No hid a smile at the strange action of the young hybrid's myriad components, then returned to re-tuning her guitar, which had been pretty viciously detuned in the fight with the inhuman troll earlier. A twinge across her back reminded her just how badly she had been hurt, but she ignored it, as the wounds had already scabbed over.

"Umm... I-No?" Dizzy looked worried, which was only a step up from the usual look of concern that was always on her face.

"Yeah?" I-No paused in her tuning long enough to strike a chord, then grimaced at the sour note.

"When were you going to tell me about your wounds? I have some cloth that could be used to bind them."

"Don't worry about it. I heal quickly. Any other questions?" I-No smiled slightly to take the sting out of her denial of assistance, and Dizzy, feeling more confident for some reason, smiled back.

"Lots. Do you want to ask me some too? I used to do that with May all the time." I-No's quiet laugh echoed through the trees, and she nodded.

"Fine. I'll go first. Why does your tail just go ahead and eat things? Does it have a separate digestive system altogether, or is it just instinct?"

Dizzy looked at her tail for a few seconds, playing with the little yellow bow at the end until she answered. "I have no idea. I do know that it does not have a separate digestive system, much to my discomfort."

"Ouch." I-No had to wince, especially after she remembered the rather sizeable chunk of oak the tail had been forced to disgorge earlier.

"Really. Well, here's my first question to you: What's with the guitar?" Dizzy let her tail go back to its contented twitching, relaxing slightly.

"What, Marlene here? Had her since I was a child; named her after my mom. Not much else to say, other than the fact that she's damn near invulnerable. Okay, number two. What did your parents really name you? Dizzy sounds more like a nickname than anything else."

Dizzy nodded, looking up at the night skies for a few seconds. "Yeah. I was called that because I couldn't keep my balance for a while; I was always running around to see everything, and every time, I got dizzy, fell down, and so on. My real name... was Lily."

I-No nodded, finishing the tuning on her guitar. "Nice name. Seems to fit you."

"Thanks. So, same question for you, same reason." Dizzy smiled at the unexpected praise, even though it was for something as mundane as a name.

I-No shivered for a few seconds, though it was not from the cool night air. "I... forgot my name."

"Really?" Dizzy was sceptical. She had caught the hesitation, and was now ready to pounce on it.

"No, not really. It... brings up a lot of bad memories, okay? Can you pick a different question?"

Dizzy nodded, seeing how much discomfort the subject was bringing to the witch. "Okay. Well, where'd you learn those spells? I've never seen anything like it, and I think I've encountered every type of magic known."

I-No smiled, though there was no happiness behind it. "I was born with it. I think, safely, that I am the world's only natural magic user, as well as the only one to use sound instead of the elements or ki energies. So, as a side effect, singing really can kill when I'm around."

Dizzy smiled slightly, failing miserably to resist an urge to needle her companion. "Only if the person's tone-deaf, huh?"

I-No grinned, ignoring the jibe. "Well, let's continue onwards. What are the names of your two friends there, and why are they always glaring at me?"

Dizzy blushed slightly, embarrassed at the comment. "Well, their names are Necros and Undine. And, they're glaring at you because they tend to be protective of me. I think they really haven't forgiven you for launching me off of the Mayship the first time we met."

I-No nodded, then looked at Undine, who had manifested again. "Well, tell them I'm sorry for launching you like that. I've... sorta changed in the last while."

Dizzy nodded, her eyes losing focus for a few seconds before she blushed again, right before she slapped her black wing. "Big meanie. Rude too. Well, I won't repeat what Necros said, so I think we should head for the next question."

"Okay, though I have to admit curiosity towards just how inventive he is in his array of swearing." I-No lay on her stomach, stretching out slightly so she could better sense just how bad her injuries were.

"Umm... well... that is..." Dizzy had turned an extremely bright shade of red, and was looking into the fire as she did so.

"Well, spit it out! We don't have all night, y'know."

"Eheh... How can you fight in something so skimpy? I mean, every time I look at you fighting, you're almost falling out of your top."

I-No paused, looked at the fiercely blushing hybrid, and broke into a fit of giggles. After recovering from the laughing fit, she sat up, continuing to chuckle. "This? Don't worry about it. When I was younger, I used to be a bit of an exhibitionist. Still am, but my clothes are a side effect of my youth. Just so you know; yes, this is a yank-away top."

Dizzy just blushed, completely embarrassed by the frank talk about something she really didn't understand. However, instead of saying anything the next time she opened her mouth, all that emerged was a rather monstrous yawn, soon echoed by I-No. "Looks like we're both exhausted. Get some sleep Dizzy. I'll wake you up in say, four hours? I do think we should take watches."

Dizzy, nodding slightly, curled up into a ball, facing the small fire. "Don't worry too much. Undine and Necros will wake me up pretty fast if there's anything."

I-No nodded, looking up at the stars above, and letting the light glimmer off of her opalescent eyes. "G'night."

Dizzy dropped off to sleep almost instantly, exhausted from all that had happened. I-No, instead of taking Dizzy's advice and letting the young hybrid's two guardians look out for anything, continued to look up at the stars, one hand reaching behind her to touch the most painful of her wounds. Quietly, she whispered the strongest incantation she could muster through the pain, touching the bloody furrow that had been gouged into her.

For a split second, her hand glowed a pale blue, before transferring the glow to her wound. Almost instantly, the large wound healed, flesh regrowing and knitting together at a pace that was only matched by gears or genetic aberrations. However, unlike gears, who only experienced a mild itching when they healed, true magical healing was nothing if not brutal. I-No's body contorted under the wave of agony as her flesh remoulded itself, and only her sheer willpower prevented her from crying out in pain.

After almost ten seconds, the healing energies abandoned her, leaving I-No exhausted, sore, and quite willing to crawl into a hole somewhere and sleep off the residual effects of the painful spell. Instead, she sat up, gingerly leaning against a tree, and quietly brushed her tears away from her face. Relaxing slightly, she looked up at the sky, seeing only glimmering stars, and possible futures.

On the opposite side of the fire, a pair of red eyes watched, concerned.


	4. New Day, Old Problems

Dawn found the two slowly, though only Dizzy was awake enough to enjoy the brilliant spectacle. I-No had fallen asleep about three hours earlier, looking like someone much more powerful had soundly pounded her into the ground. Snacking on a few of the raisins, Dizzy watched the sun, though she turned around and looked at I-No when Undine alerted her. "Good morning!"

I-No's response was a long, drawn-out moan of untold suffering. Either that, or she really wasn't a morning person. After a not-too gentle poke from Undine, the witch slowly sat up, using her fingers to comb dead pine needles out of her hair before she readjusted her hat. Looking at Dizzy, who seemed to be in nearly pristine condition, I-No just smiled and shook her head. "How'd you get all squeaky clean out in the middle of nowhere?"

Dizzy just pointed at Undine, who summoned a ball of water out of the air. I-No nodded, turning towards the direction that the smoke trail had been leading them towards. "Nice. We'll need that to survive soon enough. After all, we can only go so far without food or water."

"Umm... we have some food. About half a pound of raisins, which taste like they're a few hundred years old." I-No grimaced, then stood up, using her guitar as a brace. Dizzy was instantly at her other side, helping I-No stand.

"Hey, be careful. You don't want to tear open your back, especially after all the effort you put into healing it last night."

I-No stared at Dizzy for a few seconds, equal amounts of surprise and pain crossing her face. "You saw?" After Dizzy nodded, I-No sighed and let the smaller hybrid help her stand up. The two slowly walked out of their tiny campsite, Dizzy letting I-No lead them through the tiny corridor of non-irradiated land and air that should get them closer to wherever the Mayship had landed.

It took almost half an hour for the corridor to open up into a clear area, allowing Dizzy the opportunity to flex her wings and tail, which were all quite stiff. The clear zone was easily apparent to both women; it actually had things living in it; though the things the two found were quite... odd, to say the least.

Dizzy had promptly been freaked out when a centipede scurried past. And past. And past. The insectoid was a good fifteen feet long, and greenish ichor oozed from its easily apparent mouth, much to the disgust of both. I-No summed up the entire scene with sarcastic humour, sprinkled with a feeling of awe at how large some things were. "Well, I'd hate to get kissed by that thing. Shall we go before its parents come by?"

Nothing of note passed by for several hours, though I-No refused food, which made Dizzy more than slightly concerned. During a short break around two in the afternoon, they came across another patch of severe irradiation, which they were forced to go around. Before choosing a direction, the two sat down to rest for a short while, as both were bone-weary and feeling it.

Dizzy's hair had fallen free of her ribbons, cascading down her back in a tangled mass. I-No's few remaining wounds had reopened, and she was beginning to suffer from the more adverse effects of blood loss, including light-headedness, nausea, and disorientation. "So, now what? If I guess right, you've exhausted your magical reserves just trying to keep from letting your injuries slow you down, and I'm not much better. I never was much of a camper."

I-No smiled at that. "Uh huh. You and the rest of the world who came after you before you were adopted by Johnny. After all, didn't you live in a forest for just under a year?"

Dizzy nodded, happier times etching a smile across her face. "Yeah. It was nice there, too. Until everyone tried to hunt me down. Still, there's a large difference between the two forests."

I-No nodded. "Yeah. First, there's no Testament to help bail your butt out if you get in trouble. Second, there's a whole lot less fuzzy creatures, and a whole lot more big, nasty things that could turn us into appetizers if they were so inclined."

Dizzy walked over to where I-No was sitting, then slumped down beside the witch. "Yeah. So, do you want me to bandage your back before we continue? You'll be of no help to anyone if you're unconscious from blood loss by this time tomorrow."

I-No nodded again, saving energy by not talking. Ten minutes later, Dizzy had wrapped I-No's upper torso and back, covering the gouges and hopefully preventing the witch from bleeding out from sheer exertion. Finishing by tucking the last strip underneath several others, Dizzy then helped I-No stand up, much to the older woman's chagrin. "I never thought I'd feel my age, but here I am, being helped around by someone at least one twelfth my age."

Dizzy blushed, then jerked her head upright at the oblique mention to her age. "Hey, why do you know so much about me?"

I-No smiled, looking at Dizzy for a few seconds. "Let's just say that I had more than the basic sources available to the average bounty hunter."

Dizzy looked genuinely worried as she stated the name of the organization that actually had been behind the attacks on her. "Post-War Administration Bureau?"

I-No shuddered. "Gawd no! Even if I had worked there, they'd have strapped me down, dosed me with something, and dissected me to try to find out why I can use what I use. They'd probably do the same to you if they manage to get their claws into you. I bet that organization would be very interested in your two friends."

Dizzy frowned, thinking of something. "Hey, do you think that they were the ones who fired those missiles at us?"

"Dunno. We were flying pretty close to some old blacktech bases. For all we know, an automatic system decided to knock the Mayship out of the sky."

Dizzy just frowned, confused. "Well, if that's the case, why is there so much blacktech just lying around for someone to grab and use? I thought that the only nation in the world that still uses blacktech is Zepp, and that's under extreme sanctions from the UN."

I-No nodded, then stood up. "You're right. Looks like you know more about geopolitics than most people. However, there are some old stockpiles left over before most of the old nations collapsed during the first years of the Gear Wars. A lot of blacktech from a nation called the Soviet Union still survives. You can say what you want about the past, but they knew how to build something to last the years."

Dizzy also stood, then turned and looked back at the way they had come. "Oh no."

I-No started walking, using her remaining magical reserves to find a clear spot in the field of radiation ahead of the two. "I know that tone of voice. Let me guess; that troll you took a chunk out of has our trail and is about three klicks back."

"Yeah, that's about right. So, do we fight, or do we run?"

"Run. I can't fight with my back like this, and you don't know what those things do when angry."

"I thought it was mad enough when we left it."

"It was just irritated. It will get pissed if you rip its entire face off, but that's a different story."

Dizzy nodded, then turned to follow I-No, who was already two hundred yards away and slowly increasing the distance. For some odd reason, I-No seemed to be examining the trees for some sign or object, then stopped suddenly between four trees that were evenly spaced from each other, creating sort of a natural square. Kneeling, the witch scraped off a layer of debris, revealing a metal doorway set into the ground.

Dizzy looked at the ancient door, which looked much like something that had been installed a few centuries ago, then at I-No, her confusion and frustration boiling over. "And what are we going to do with this? Yank it out of the ground and use it as a shield?"

"Hardly. Though, if I had some help here, I'd be able to open this thing..." Dizzy sighed, then walked over to the door. Using her enhanced strength, she easily opened the door, allowing I-No to climb into the abandoned bunker. Dizzy followed a few moments afterwards, closing the door behind her as I-No summoned a small ball of energy to light the area around them.

The first room was huge, though it was also stacked, floor to ceiling, with every possible array of blacktech weapons Dizzy thought existed. And then some. The ball of energy floating just above her head, I-No had easily opened up one crate that was close by, then smiled. "Hey, lookie what I found. Clean clothes."

She held up a pair of black coveralls, still sealed in a clear bag, then tossed another pair at Dizzy. "You might want to wear them. It gets pretty cold underground, and your fighting clothes don't look like they allow you to retain any sort of body heat."

Dizzy nodded, then watched, dumbfounded, as I-No went through each crate in turn, muttering to herself before she found what she was looking for, in a long crate near one wall of the room. Hefting the long tube onto one shoulder, I-No grinned wickedly. "Now the fun begins."

"But... What is this place? I've never seen anything like it. Also, how do you know so much about this place?"

"This is an abandoned weapons bunker from oh, about the mid-twentieth century. And these little brutes," I-No paused long enough to pull a handgun out of another box, "Are blacktech weapons, which we will use to turn our not-too nice friend upstairs into squishy jelly."

Dizzy just stared at the crates, completely and utterly out of her depth. "But... How?"

"That's the million world-dollar question, and one that I'm not answering. Let's just say that I've seen things that you never will, and for good reason."

Dizzy just nodded, then followed I-No deeper into the bunker.


	5. Bunkered

The bunker I-No and Dizzy explored was rather simple; eight rooms, connected by a single hallway running the length of the small underground complex. The first room the two had explored was the official weapons 'locker', though the room was almost the same size as the Mayship's cargo hold, and about twice as packed. I-No had exhausted herself pretty early on, as her wounds were keeping her from doing much of anything. She did, however, find a stash of old flashlights with working batteries, allowing the two to explore the rest of the bunker without using their fingers.

The second room the two looked into turned out to be where the previous occupants of the bunker had lived. Metal bunk beds were arrayed in three rows down the long room, easily accommodating over two hundred people. Dizzy took the chance afforded her, and, a few vigorous beatings to dusty mattresses later, she had basically ordered I-No to get some rest on something more comfortable than lumpy earth covered in needles.

Dizzy continued to explore the bunker after she had made sure that her travelling companion was resting. Following the hallway, Dizzy decided to go along the side she and I-No had begun to explore before she'd double back and start on the opposite side of the facility. Following the hallway, and keeping the beam of her flashlight moving at everything and anything, Dizzy soon came to the second set of doors in the hallway, which were obviously locked.

Heavy chains and padlocks prevented the double doors from opening, though, due to request, Necros' axe proved to be stronger than metal that was a few centuries old. Dizzy pushed the door open easily, rather surprised to find that the doors were still well-lubricated and didn't squeak at all. Once she saw what was inside the room, however, Dizzy didn't regret splitting the chain holding the door shut. Medical equipment of every size, shape and function was set up in the room, though what she needed was slightly more portable.

A methodical search ended up with Dizzy muttering every vile imprecation she could think of, and, with Necros' own impressive vocabulary added to Dizzy's own learned skill of witty insults (due to several games played with April and May), the hybrid peppered the air for a long time as she continued to search for a simple first aid kit. Finally, taking a break next to the door, Dizzy looked just to the side of the door. She then promptly whacked her forehead repeatedly with the heel of her hand, muttering another string of curses, though this time aimed at herself.

Removing the field surgery kit from its wall mount, Dizzy scooted back to the bunk room, where she found I-No sleeping on her side. One look at the bandages told Dizzy all she needed to know, though the bleeding had apparently slowed or stopped entirely. A quick exploration of the kit allowed Dizzy to select several clean bandages, as well as some old, but potent antiseptic, which she set aside for when I-No would wake up.

Dizzy went back to her exploration, finding a crate of sealed MRE rations in the room further along, after the medical room. Picking at one of the dry rations for several minutes allowed Dizzy to feel a bit better, as her stomach was no longer trying to polish her spine. The storage room also held several strange metres that looked portable, and, when Dizzy turned one on, all it did was click oddly. Shrugging, she turned off the strange metre, leaving the small box hanging on the hook where she had first left it. 

The fourth door was at the far end of the hallway, spanning the ten feet from wall to wall, and looking to be nearly two feet thick. However, the door was also partially open; just barely enough room existed between the two flanges of the door to allow Dizzy to squeeze through, though the large area just beyond the door made Dizzy smile. A large slit had literally been chopped out of the wall, looking outwards to the West.

Just as she entered the room, the sun dropped low enough for her to see clearly without using the flashlight, so Dizzy turned off the light as she looked at the strange object in the middle of the room. She walked around the long, tubular object three times, then shook her head, confused. "Maybe if Potemkin were here. He could tell what most of these things are at a glance, while I'm stuck scratching my head. Oh well. I'm guessing that whatever this thing is, it must be important, considering that it's bolted to the ground."

Her eyes fell on a lever near the back of the mounted tube, and curiosity took over; Dizzy walked over to the lever, poked it a few times, looked at it from every angle possible, then looked around her in every cardinal direction. She then grabbed the lever, squeezed slightly, and shoved it towards the tube. Nothing happened at all. Dizzy looked again at the lever, which had somehow reset itself to its original position, then shrugged, turning around to come nose to nose with I-No.

Suppressing a scream, the only thing that came out of Dizzy's mouth was a mangled squeak. I-No looked like death warmed over, and the witch's arcane hat was actually speaking, though it was a language that Dizzy had never heard before. I-No responded in the same language, which really unnerved Dizzy, as the inflections on the words sounded completely alien.

I-No's eyes were looking past Dizzy's shoulder, the colours slowly shifting away from the reddish-gold hue normally seen in the maddened glare of a dying combat Gear. I-No's eyes eventually settled on a more natural shade of dark brown, followed by the witch collapsing to her knees. "Man. That always takes a lot out of me."

Dizzy sat down beside I-No, looking at the strange unit in the middle of the room. "What did you do? I pulled the lever there, but nothing happened."

"That's because I bent time. After all, I don't think you'd appreciate being buried under a few tons of concrete because that thing fired right into a wall."

Dizzy took the comment in stride, as she honestly felt that nothing else in the world could surprise her anymore. "Well, what is it?"

"A 'pilebunker' siege cannon. That is a perfect example of blacktech, and why the vast majority of the world has banned it. Namely, you could have killed yourself. Actually, you did kill yourself. By resetting time so you didn't pull that lever, you didn't die. Comprehend?"

"Not at all. I lost you completely when you started talking about playing with time. Another one of your natural abilities?"

"Sorta. The hat acts as an amplifier; allows me to do things to a much larger-scale basis than I normally could for the same amount of energy. By the way, I'm kinda hungry; got anything?"

Dizzy laughed at the sudden release of tension in the room, and nodded. "Yeah. We still have those raisins that taste like they're about a century old."

I-No's grimace told Dizzy exactly what she thought of that 'meal'. Dizzy smiled, and continued. "We also have a crate full of something called MREs. Kinda dry, but at least they're filling."

"Anything's better than raisins that are probably older than the both of us combined. By the way, what's my back look like? It feels better, but I don't know if I'm leaking or anything."

Dizzy looked at the bandages covering I-No's back, gently probing the few areas that looked like fresh blood had seeped into the thick gauze. "I think the bleeding's pretty much stopped, but we should change these bandages soon. Also, you're going to need some liquids to help counter against your blood loss."

I-No nodded absently, concentrating instead on something that even Dizzy could not detect. Finally, the witch's head came up, and she frowned. "This is not good. Our little friend found our entrance, and he's trying to figure how to get in."

Dizzy sighed, hugging herself for a few moments. "That really is not good. Can it figure out the latch?"

I-No grimaced, not liking the answer. "Probably. We have about twenty minutes, so let's get our stuff, some food, and a first aid kit. I think one of your wings is capable of summoning pure water, right?"

Dizzy nodded, glad to be helping out in any way. "Yeah."

I-No grinned, standing up and looking at the cannon. "Good. We won't need to burden ourselves with canteens then. By the way, did you see a few portable gauges that clicked when you turned them on?"

Dizzy nodded again, also standing up. "Yeah, just in the storage room where I found the food."

"Grab one. It'll save us a lot of grief later if we have to go through a radioactive area and I'm exhausted."

Dizzy left the cannon room and I-No, stopping first in the bunk room, where she grabbed I-No's guitar and the field surgery kit she had left there earlier. Dizzy paused for a few seconds, then also grabbed the pistol I-No had picked up from the ammunition room, as well as the ten magazines of ammunition that were stacked next to the gun. Her arms full, Dizzy went back to the now wide-open doors to the cannon room, putting down her collection just inside the doors before heading to the storage room where she had found the food.

Dizzy simply grabbed two satchels that were hanging beside the door, stuffing both canvas bags with as many MRE rations as she could scrounge from the open crates. Pausing long enough to snag one of the several metres and test if it was working by turning it on and listening to the thing begin clicking, Dizzy then left the supply room, returning to the cannon room, where she saw I-No slowly pushing the cannon's muzzle around so it aimed back down the middle of the hallway.

I-No, much to her credit, looked like she could pull the ears off of Justice, even though her normally pale skin had an ashen cast to it. Dizzy looked on for a few seconds, then helped I-No properly aim the cannon. Only five minutes had gone by since the start of I-No's warning, and the witch was proven right by a muffled howl and a loud, echoing clang as something large and heavy slammed against the closed doors at the opposite end of the hallway.

"It's heeere." I-No had picked up her guitar, as well as the pistol, which, when Dizzy was not looking, was stuffed into Dizzy's satchel, as well as the majority of the ammo for the handgun.

"Yep. So, would you like a drink before we leave?"

"Wouldn't mind. I'm feeling just a bit thirsty."

Dizzy's eyes quickly lost focus, and, a few seconds later, Undine appeared, summoning a ball of cold water as large as I-No's head. Dizzy regained focus to reality just in time to stop the ice guardian from dunking the wounded witch in the water. Undine sulked for a few seconds over being nailed for a prank beforehand, but then allowed the witch to gather however much water she wanted. I-No shrank the sphere by half before quenching her thirst, which had taken enough time for the troll to batter several dents that were large enough to be seen from over one hundred feet away, in pre-dusk gloom.

Dizzy watched as I-No tied one of her guitar strings to the firing lever of the cannon, then threaded the string through a metal loop, allowing the witch to stand behind the cannon and pull towards her instead of actually pushing the lever forwards. "Dizzy, when that brute down there takes down the door, as fast as you can, go through the viewing port behind us. I'll be right behind you."

Dizzy frowned, picking up both satchels and resting them on the edge of the port. "What are you planning to do?"

"Me? I'm planning to blow this place sky-high, and all to kill one simple troll."

"But, what if we're caught in the blast?"

"We won't be, if we're fast enough. After all, we only need to be outside to be mostly safe."

"Fine. You go first."

"No."

"You're injured, you can't run as fast as I can with those chunks taken out of your back, and I'm flexible enough to get out after yanking on the cord."

"...Fine. You win. Remember, wait five seconds after you hear the doors come down. That should give me enough time to get out with our food and equipment."

Dizzy nodded, quietly holding on to the thin string as the echoing crashes steadily grew louder. Finally, with a slow, groaning creak, one of the doors collapsed, giving the troll access to the hallway. Dizzy looked at I-No, who was already climbing out through the port, then looked at the troll, which was standing in the middle of the hallway, about twenty feet in from its entry point.

Slowly, she counted to five. The troll heard her, snorted and began running towards her, but Dizzy calmly and deliberately pulled the string, then let go, turned, and dove through the port just as the cannon fired.


	6. Wreckage

Nearly one hundred klicks away from the hidden bunker, a hulking steel vessel rested at the end of a long scar that had been torn into the forest by its forced landing. The hull of the ship had been battered pretty heavily by its landing, dents and gouges covering the vessel. On the bridge, a trenchcoated man stood, leaning at a ten-degree angle to offset the ship's list to port. Outwardly, one would think that he was completely unconcerned with the damage to his ship. However, everyone who knew him well enough could see that he was so worried that it was virtually eating at him from the inside.

Even though he had been one of the more seriously injured members of the crew when the Mayship had crashed, Johnny had refused any treatment until everyone else on the ship had been given the proper care and attention to their own injuries. Johnny frowned for a few seconds, looking at the paper he held in his left hand. The damage report was short, simple, and sobering.

The port engine was damaged, but fixable. Replacing the ruined turbine blades would be the most difficult part of the work, but it was required if the Mayship was to become airborne once again. Most of the remaining damage was cosmetic, except for the gaping hole in the starboard side of the cargo bay, where a missile had managed to slip through the layers of defences set up by many years of hard work and trial-and-error.

Johnny looked at the note once more, then shook his head, placing the scrap of paper in one of his coat's pockets. Turning from the deserted bridge, he walked aft, heading towards the ship's mess hall, which currently doubled as the first-aid station. Johnny paused at the mess' door when he noticed that someone, probably April, had covered the door's circular window with something, likely to keep the younger orphans aboard ship from seeing anything that would traumatize them.

Nodding to himself at the forethought, Johnny quietly entered the large room, quickly closing the door behind him. As he did so, June, who had taken charge of the wounded, virtually materialized beside him, checking Johnny's right arm, which was immobilized by a splint and sling. Five seconds later, Johnny was bapped over the head with a roll of gauze, as he had been fidgeting, much to his crewmember's displeasure.

June didn't light into him however. All she did was shake her head as she readjusted the sling to take in the slack Johnny had created. As she did so, June looked at Johnny, who, to her eyes, looked about as exhausted as humanly possible. "You want to see her?"

Johnny shook his head, looking at the one area that June had surrounded with privacy screens. The floor there had lost its varnish, simply because of the sand that had been used to make sure that the floor did not become too slippery from the blood. "Not until she's awake. How's she doing?"

June grimaced. "Hard to tell. She's stopped bleeding from the deeper wounds, but she's still unconscious. I just hope she'll be okay."

Johnny nodded. "Same here." He then turned and looked towards the other beds in the 'ward' most of which were unoccupied. "So, how's everyone else?"

June thought for a few moments, then nodded to herself. "Minor wounds, mostly. A few bumps and scrapes from your decision to corkscrew us out of one hit, Feb has a concussion, and Janice is missing a few whiskers due to a close call with an open door that decided to close itself. Otherwise, we're all okay, and everyone else except Janice and myself has already started work on the engine."

Johnny, slightly relieved by the information, nodded to himself. "I think I'll go and give them a hand. After all, even one good arm can help with basic repairs."

And so, twenty minutes later, Johnny found himself holding a lug wrench in his good hand, feet braced against the damaged engine's turbine housing, and cursing under his breath as he tried valiantly to turn a single, stubborn bolt that, no matter what he did, would not rotate. Seriously tempted to just bash the tar out of the tenacious bolt, Johnny sighed and looked up at the clear skies overhead.

Five seconds later, the skies were not that clear, and Johnny was shouting for everyone to get to the ground and cover their ears. He took his own advice, dropping the wrench, running to the end of the wing and dropping the fifteen feet to the forest floor, where he took shelter behind a solid-looking tree before covering his ears.

Fifteen seconds later, a massive pressure wave tore through the area, knocking over smaller trees, sending objects flying (Johnny would later swear that he saw his wrench being launched through a large pine tree), and actually forcing the Mayship ten feet further into the trees, many of which were uprooted or snapped off near the ground as several hundred tons of metal alloys encroached upon the soon-to be firewood.

For almost ten seconds after the pressure wave passed them, a swirling maelstrom of disturbed air buffeted the Mayship and its crew, preventing anyone from moving for fear of being swept off of their feet. Eventually, the air calmed, and the crew members who had been working with Johnny appeared from the places they had used as cover from the blast. Johnny, partly shaded from the setting sun by the overhanging wing of the Mayship, looked south, towards the immense mushroom cloud of black and grey smoke that rose far into the air.

"Wow. I've never seen something that large." Sephy stood beside Johnny, and, having decided that it was safe to watch the massive cloud continue climbing towards the heavens, she did so.

Johnny nodded at the young girl's words, then frowned. "I have. It's not something you want to see every day, is it?"

Sephy shook her head, her large eyes still transfixed upon the cloud. "No. It's scary. Reminds me of that woman in red who was with us."

Johnny nodded to himself, then picked up a toolbox that had been knocked over. "Hmm. She is a scary one, but I think that's just her way. You know, like how April is always there when you have a nightmare and you need to talk to someone."

Sephy began to pick up several smaller objects that had fallen out of the tool box, tearing her gaze away from the spectacle as she figured that her duties took precedence. "Or like how May is completely hopeless in the galley, and has been threatened with death by both June and Leap if she wrecks another pot?"

Johnny just nodded, frowning to himself. "Uh huh." Glancing again at the mushroom cloud, he felt a chill wash over him, causing him to shiver for a few seconds. Sighing to himself, he began to make plans to head towards the blast site.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Less than fifty yards from where the bunker had once stood, Dizzy and I-No lay, side by side, on top of a large, cool mound of earth. Exhausted, covered in bruises, and sore over every square millimetre of her body, Dizzy felt more dead than alive. However, the familiar presence of both her guardians prevented her from slipping into unconsciousness, though her battered body would have gladly sone so.

Undine was the first to comment on the devastation wrought, which was unlike her. _#Wow. Did they ever hear the term 'overkill'?#_

Necros' response followed shortly afterwards, though it did not hold his usual conviction and sense of power. Dizzy just assumed he was also awed by the destruction around them **Yeah, they did. Right before it blew up in their faces, killing them.**

Undine spluttered for a few seconds, then gave up and laughed. After recovering from the laughing fit, she decided to manifest, allowing herself to get a better look around her. Necros did the same, and, with both guardians assisting her, Dizzy slowly sat up. Ignoring her pounding migraine, the hybrid first looked for anything hostile. However, reality intruded swiftly as her right arm warned her off of any sort of movement. Looking at her arm, Dizzy was surprised to see that her forearm had been laid open to the bone by a piece of shrapnel no larger than her pinky fingernail, though, due to her mixed heritage, the gaping wound was not bleeding, and was slowly sealing itself.

Carefully, and almost writhing in pain sometimes, Dizzy washed her injuries in water Undine summoned, followed by bandaging her worst injuries with several of the surgery kit's gauze wraps. Dizzy was inwardly glad that she had the foresight to bring the kit along before everything went to hell. She then looked at I-No, who, while apparently uninjured from the blast, was quite unconscious.

Deciding to check for injuries, Dizzy reached out and carefully tried to roll I-No onto her right side, in order to check on the witch's known injuries. Quietly, so quietly that even Dizzy had a hard time picking the comment out, I-No spoke, sounding more like a scared child than the confident and deadly woman that she was. "Please... not again... stop hitting me... please..."

Dizzy paused, her fingers less than an inch away from the older woman's skin, surprised at the comment. As Dizzy tried to figure what to do, I-No turned away, still unconscious, and revealed that her only injuries were the ones that had been inflicted upon her much earlier. As Dizzy examined I-No's slowly healing wounds, she noticed a pale, white line, as wide as her thumb, running down the witch's back, and disappearing underneath the leather clothes I-No always wore. Dizzy sat back on her heels, stiffening her tail slightly so she could effectively 'tripod' herself. Looking at the visible scar, and thinking of the whispered comment that likely came direct from I-No's subconscious, Dizzy decided to reopen a conversation with her two guardians.

'Well, I guess we know something about her past now. Sounds like she went through some stuff that's pretty similar to what we went through.'

Necros' response was bluntly snide. **So? Why didn't she fight back? From what we do know of her, she's perfectly capable of laying waste to a small city in twenty minutes, and she looks like the first one she'd total would be her own.**

Undine's response was more thought-out than Necros', earning her a mental smile. #_Maybe it's because, like Dizzy, she didn't want to hurt anyone, and only wanted to be accepted. Only, unlike Dizzy, she didn't fall into the 'clutches' of someone like Johnny, who actually tries to understand us._#

Necros once again responded, though with much less derogatory content than the last time he had been invited to offer his opinion. **Hrrmph. Well, at least she's unconscious. I say we leave her to rot and just head off. Probably save us a lot of stress too.**

Dizzy interjected, her mental voice basically carrying all the power of the word of god. 'Well, unlike you, I think we're going to take her along with us. We may move more slowly, but I think we'll need her help a few more times. Besides, she saved our lives at least twice now.'

Undine's voice carried her smirk too, causing Necros to grumble vigorously. #_Which, according to Necros' math skills, means she still owes us for tossing us off the Mayship the last time._#

**Well, think about it! There's three of us, and only one of her. She endangered each of us once, and has only saved our collective skin twice. Therefore, she still owes us one.**

'Well, I think that we should help her, just so she can square away whatever Necros feels she owes us. All opposed? Necros, put your hand down. All in favour of helping her? Thanks Undine. The 'ayes' have it.'

Dizzy stood up, then tested her right arm to see how it was doing. Moving her hand hurt just enough to warn Dizzy from doing anything strenuous, so she collected the two satchels loaded with the supplies they had taken from the bunker. Carefully settling the satchels across her back, Dizzy then looked back at what remained of the bunker, watching the black smoke climb steadily into the air from whatever was still burning inside the shattered concrete shell.

Sighing to herself, Dizzy then picked up I-No's guitar, which she also slung across her back, then looked at I-No herself, who seemed to be just beginning to reacquire something approximating consciousness. Dizzy helped the semi-conscious witch stand, then, by letting I-No use her shoulders as a brace for an arm, Dizzy managed to somehow half-drag herself and I-No away from the bunker, still heading north.


End file.
